Chapter 13: Crossing Class Boundaries Summary and Analysis

Bell grew up in a segregated black neighborhood with people of all classes. Some were so poor they lived in shacks while others, like Bell's family, were busy, working class families. When her father began working, blacks were paid less than whites for the same work. By the end of his career, these unfair practices were outlawed. Even though her father worked three jobs at times, money was still tight. Raising seven children was not an easy task. Although Bell's childhood was segregated, it was an isolated and somewhat protected one. When she went to Stanford, she encountered her first real experience with class differences. Bell was a black girl from a working class family attending a very rich school. She understood later why her parents had first balked at her going.